Coach Rex Walters led USF to 21 victories and an NIT berth last season.

Coach Rex Walters led USF to 21 victories and an NIT berth last season.

Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

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Rex Walters led the Dons to an NIT berth after their starting point guard left the team after an altercation at practice.

Rex Walters led the Dons to an NIT berth after their starting point guard left the team after an altercation at practice.

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

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San Francisco head coach Rex Walters looks for an explanation from the refs during the second half against the Oregon Ducks in an NCAA college basketball game in Eugene, Ore. on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Chris Pietsch)

San Francisco head coach Rex Walters looks for an explanation from the refs during the second half against the Oregon Ducks in an NCAA college basketball game in Eugene, Ore. on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013. (AP

San Francisco head coach Rex Walters reacts to a call during the second half of a West Coast Conference tournament NCAA college basketball game against BYU Monday, March 10, 2014, in Las Vegas. BYU defeated San Francisco 79-77 in overtime. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) less

San Francisco head coach Rex Walters reacts to a call during the second half of a West Coast Conference tournament NCAA college basketball game against BYU Monday, March 10, 2014, in Las Vegas. BYU defeated San ... more

Photo: Isaac Brekken, Associated Press

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LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Head coach Rex Walters of the San Francisco Dons reacts to an official's call during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball tournament against the Brigham Young Cougars at the Orleans Arena on March 10, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brigham Young won 79-77 in overtime. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) less

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Head coach Rex Walters of the San Francisco Dons reacts to an official's call during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball tournament against the Brigham Young ... more

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

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San Francisco coach Rex Walters motions to the referee in the second half of a quarterfinal West Coast Conference NCAA college basketball tournament game against San Deigo, Saturday, March 8, 2014, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) less

San Francisco coach Rex Walters motions to the referee in the second half of a quarterfinal West Coast Conference NCAA college basketball tournament game against San Deigo, Saturday, March 8, 2014, in Las ... more

Photo: Julie Jacobson, Associated Press

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USF coach Rex Walters finds success amid turbulence

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His starting point guard quit the team after an altercation with a teammate in practice, yet he became the WCC Coach of the Year.

He can lose his cool on the sideline, yet has a good enough sense of humor to poke fun at himself afterward.

He has lost too many players as transfers, yet steadily has increased his program's Academic Progress Rate numbers.

Yes, it's easy to criticize and praise Rex Walters, head basketball coach at the University of San Francisco. Since six players transferred after the 2011-12 season, there has been a notion that something must be amiss on the Hilltop.

That notion was reinforced after Cody Doolin, who had started all 103 games in his USF career, left the Dons after fighting with a teammate during a November practice. Walters was even accused of instigating the fight.

Despite those distractions, the Dons went 13-5 in WCC play, tying for second in the conference. And they were invited to play in a postseason tournament. The Chronicle sat down with Walters to discuss the team's down-and-up season, prior to its first NIT game, against LSU on Wednesday night.

Q:Is it fair to say that this has been both your most trying and most satisfying season in six seasons on the Hilltop?

A: Yeah, it is. Obviously, when you lose two players, it's difficult, but to watch our guys really come together, it's been a lot of fun.

Q:In mid-December, you said, "Hey, I like my guys. We're better than you think. We're going to be fine." How much of that was bravado and how much of that did you really believe?

A: I didn't think we'd win 13 games. I thought that we would still be fighting for the top half of our league. ... I thought that we could be better defensively. ... We became more structured, which is where we were going anyway, and there was some resistance (to) that. There was no longer resistance. Our guys, I think, felt that, "OK, we have to do this for us to be the team that we want to be."

Q:Anything you can say about the allegation that you encouraged the fight?

A: I didn't encourage the fight. ... It was to the point where something bad was going to happen, and I wanted to practice. I said, "Hey, do we want to practice or are you guys going to fight?" They said they wanted to fight ... and I should have stopped it. I should have stopped it there. I didn't think that they would fight. In my heart of hearts, I just didn't think they would. ... We've never had that in my eight years of coaching. We've had guys say they wanted to, and not. ... That's what I expected. It was an altercation; I wouldn't classify it as a fight, to be honest with you. It lasted 10, maybe 15 seconds, tops. (I) just didn't expect it. I definitely didn't encourage it ... but I didn't put into perspective losing to Idaho State and losing to Nevada. It is what it is. I wish it wouldn't have happened, but it did. It made me a better coach.

Q:You would acknowledge that too many guys have transferred.

A: No question.

Q:Do you have a sense of an overarching theme to that and going forward, to have fewer guys transfer, how do you do that?

A: You've got to do a better job in the evaluation process. ... We took some guys late and we took some guys early with probably not doing as good a background (check) of just the type of kids they were. ... We did have some guys make some mistakes off the court. I don't talk about those players; they're good kids that made mistakes. Some kids left for academic reasons. Some kids left for playing-time reasons and then one kid left because he had a chance to play in the Pac-12. And yeah, there were probably times that they didn't like me very much. That happens. But I'll tell you right now, in my three years at Kansas, there were a lot of times I didn't like Coach (Roy) Williams very much. ... It's really simple: Give me your best off the court. Give me your best on the court. You do that, you're fine. And if you don't, and you're hurting the program, you're hurting our university - I'm not going to publicize it - but at some point, we've got to find another place.

Q:(Have you been) recruiting guys either who weren't quite athletically good enough to play in the WCC or academically good enough to handle USF?

A: Yeah. ... When I was a recruit, Carroll Williams and Dick Davey recruited me, and I felt like they weren't recruiting me because they were telling me how hard it was going to be to play at Santa Clara. It's almost gotten to that point with me. Like, I'm going to tell you how hard it is to play (at USF), and I didn't do that probably good enough in my first (couple of years) because you wanted to sign guys. You wanted to get guys. And now ... (I say), "You won't like it here, you won't like me if you don't love basketball and love to win and hate to lose and want to go to class and want to get your degree."

Q:How have you been able to do improve (the Academic Progress Rate)?

A: We demand effort in the classroom and we hold them accountable. ... We've done a really good job of making sure our guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing in the classroom. ... The academic part, it's really non-negotiable for me.

Q: Considering everything that's happened this year, good and bad, what did the Coach of the Year award mean to you?

A: It's more of a team award. It really is. It's nice. It's nice that it's from peers, that they think that we did a really good job. ... I think it was great for my family, my wife, my kids to have some pride - because they knew it was a tough year. ... We really think we're doing things the right way.